1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to the area of hand tools and more specifically to a device that is used to facilitate cleaning of paint brushes and paint rollers.
2. Overview of Prior Art
Attempts have been made in developing devices that are used in cleaning paint brushes and paint rollers. In some cases such devices are used in conjunction with rotary motion such as that supplied by a spinner, such as that disclosed by Hoeltke et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,221; or a common electric drill. This includes a griping set of jaws that can receive a paint brush handle and an outer sleeve that can receive a paint roller. A plunger is driven by the hand of the user which causes rotary motion of the jaws and sleeve. This rotary motion results in a centrifugal force that results in displacement of the paint from the rollers and much of the paint from the bristles of a brush. Centrifugal force is related to the angular velocity of the paint particle and the distance from the center of rotation. Since the center of rotation of the spinner travels through the brush, some bristles and paint particles thereon will not be effected by this force. Also, the spinner is a machine in and of itself. Not counting the noted deficiency, this device may be practical for some commercial painters but certainly not for the home owner who paints once every few years. A small attachment for some other form of rotary motion, such as a common electric drill, which most homes have anyway, would be much more practical, and for the commercial painter it would mean one less machine to carry.
In response to this demand by the users Dunn has disclosed a version of such a device in U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,908. Here Dunn uses a generally cylindrical device with a shank on one end and the other end open. The shank is used by securing in an electric drill chuck and thereby applying rotary motion to the cylindrical portion of the device. The cylindrical portion includes a set of leaf springs that are supported in the wall of the cylinder, a portion displaced to the inside and a portion displaced to the outside. A paint brush handle can then be secured in the inside of the cylinder and a paint roller on the outside. One of the problems with such a design is that handle size and shapes vary greatly from one maker to another as well as in the size of the brush. With a rigid cylindrical frame the variability of such a device is greatly limited. Also, since the cylindrical frame is not allowed to easily flex the center bristles of the brush will not be adequately cleaned because of the center of rotation of the device will be very close to some bristles. Spinning the brush in the air would result in no centrifugal force because there is no radius to the axis. If the brush is placed in the solvent and rotated the bristles are cleansed by passing them through a great deal of solvent. Only the outside bristles would be cleaned this way. The interior bristles that are aligned with the axis of the device pass through very little solvent. These inside bristles are the most difficult to clean.
A similar device is disclosed by Hutt in U.S. Pat No. 5,185,938 where a mechanical jaw grips the brush handle. This device does address the problem of variability in size of the handles but requires cast or machines parts and as such is expensive to manufacture. In addition paint contamination on the internal threads would likely make the device non-functional. As previously mentioned, the same problem exists with the center bristles not being cleaned. In order for this device to operate due to the mating parts, the cylindrical portion must be rigid. This means that the center of rotation will always pass through an area of bristles of the brush, and that area will not be adequately cleaned.
An attempt to solve some of the aforementioned problems is proposed by Taylor in U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,979 which includes a tapered hollow shank with a spring grip on an open end. The tapered shank is enclosed by a hollow cylindrical body and a spindle for a rotary drive device is on the end opposite to the open end. The spring does eliminate the need for a mechanical clamping device as previously disclosed, but it would seemingly only work well on handles that are cylindrical in shape, such as with artist's paint brushes. Commercial wide brushes typically have handles that have an hour glass shape, larger in the middle than on either end. Due to the variation in shape and handle size this clasping device with only one flexing part would be undesirable and potentially dangerous if a brush was dislodged while spinning at a high speed. In addition, this rigid device is not suited to allow the brush to rotate outside of the center of rotation of the tool, similar to those previously disclosed.
A brush extension handle is disclose by Betz in U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,807 which is comprised of a wooden coupling with tapered threads on one end and a foam rubber sleeve on the there end. This is intended to fit on the end of a handle, by the tapered threads, and the other end can receive a paint brush. This is to extend the users arm to reach difficult spots while painting. The item could conceivably be modified to be attached to a drill chuck and rotated with a brush in the other end, but the same limitations as previously disclosed would exist regarding rotation about the center of the brush. Also it is doubtful as to the security of maintaining the brush in position by a sponge rubber sleeve if the material is pliable enough to conform to the great variability in brush handles to be truly useful.
The problem associated with having the center of rotation not pass through a portion of the bristles was addressed by Kliewer in U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,384 where the brush is mounted orthogonal to the axis of rotation. Though this is addressed numerous other issues now arise, most obviously, safety. Brushes can be of a substantially length and mass. If the brush is not positioned with axis of rotation at or near the center of gravity of the brush the brush could become dislodged while rotating. The resultant projectile could be very damaging to people or property nearby. If the brush is not dislodged, the excessive rotating path would make it easy to inadvertently contact a person or item and thereby cause damage.
Dulin, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,443 disclosed a closed unit that is applicable only for paint rollers. This self contained unit includes a motor which drives a journaled shaft which is connected to a support for a paint roller. The device, as disclosed, would not be capable of rotating a paint brush because no attachment means is disclosed nor obvious to support a paint brush. Also, this is a fully enclosed unit that is likely to be expensive to manufacture and bulky to transport, and therefore not practical for most field applications. Since only paint rollers are used, varying the center of rotation is not necessary because a paint roller is hollow. Therefore, there is no paint to be displaced about the center of rotation of a paint roller.
Along the lines of the previously disclosed Hand disclosed a cleaning apparatus in U.S. Pat No. 3,696,457 which includes a carrying case with solvent therein. A rotary attachment is devised to rotate the rollers so that they can be spun dry inside the enclosure. A handle is included which receives the handle of a paint brush and an opening in the top of the container lid allows the brush portion to be inserted therein and physically rotated to dry the brush after soaking in the solvent. It is apparent that it is intended that the user rotate or spin the brush by hand because no mechanism is provided to facilitate this process. As such, the amount of rotational kinetic energy that could be imparted on the brush and handle to free the water and debris from the bristles is far from that necessary to do an adequate job. In addition, the device is primarily a storage device and therefore large and bulky. Thus, the device lacks function and efficiency.
A unique method of cleaning paint brushes is disclosed by Chipman in U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,877 which utilizes an osculating arm which includes one or more brushes clamped thereon. This arm and associated brushes is submerged into a container of solvent and osculated to clean the brushes. It is a self contained unit that is large and would not be efficiently used outside on a commercial painting job. The osculating feature enables a "sloshing" of the solvent. That, in combination with the osculating of the brushes themselves, could cause enough solvent to pass through the bristles to clean them, but it does nothing to dry the brushes. Running the brushes in the absence of the solvent would do virtually nothing to accelerate the process of drying the brushes which is an equally important step. For the aforementioned reasons the device is not practical in a commercial application, and given the expense of manufacturing such a device it is far from optimal in any application.
A tool to facilitate soaking or draining a paint brush is disclosed by Bannan in U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,471. The device includes a notch for receiving a paint brush handle such that the brush can be suspended with the bristles hanging vertically, thereby able to drain into a container or soak in a container of solvent. A cutout is included on one end of the tool to receive and scrape the surface of a roller to aid in cleaning the roller of paint and moisture. No attempt is made to use such a device to facilitate cleaning or drying a paint brush nor for cleaning the roller beyond removing debris by scraping. This is not only less than effective as a process of cleaning and drying but it damages the nap of the roller, thus reducing the life of the roller.
A brush cleaning system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,634 by Eisenberg which includes a plurality of coils supported by wire elements. The user is intended to drag the bristles of a paint brush along the coils, the interference of the bristles and the coils intending to remove a portion of the paint therefrom. This system is at best marginally effective as a device for "combing" the brush. Some paint would be removed but a great deal of the paint deep within the body of the brush would remain, especially when the coils or the "comb" are covered with paint. Even a small amount of paint left on the bristles to dry will contaminate the brush for future use. In addition this "combing" process is potentially damaging to the bristles of the brush due to the frictional force that removes the paint. For these reasons this device would be less than effective.
No device in the art discloses nor suggests a compact device that can be used with an existing rotary device to spin a paint brush and roller in such a manner that the center of rotation of the brush is not a consistent spot within the brush. This translation allows for a centrifugal force to be applied to all bristles of the brush, not just the outside bristles.